Tag Archives: #audience

Good morning. Much to do as always. If you are a producer or director you are always working, and you are always thinking new things, another book to read, another meeting to have, a podcast to watch and the list goes on. I have a such a long list of books I need to tackle. I am getting back to work on my feature. Right now it is read read read.

So I been thinking about what I want to accomplish year. This past year was not my been my strongest. I feel I failed in many ways. The film I am developing got put on hold, I was not committed to this blog like I should, I did not get my production company up and running and didn’t make much art. So I am not happy with myself.

That being said I want the this year to be amazing. Make the year a new start for me. I have given some thought to what I want to do and here is what I have so far: Grow personally. I am starting to work on improving me. My Health, my work and my personal life. I have started to get into Robin Sharma on how to become the best me I possible can be. I think that it doesn’t hurt to get into self improvement. God knows I need too.

This blog: Yes I used to write in this blog often, but have gotten away from it. I want to build this blog back up and turn it into a leading film blog. I want to share my journey as a filmmaker, artist and as a creative. Then there is giving you readers information you can use out there. Things I find. I also am going to have guest writers like Ken Anthony help provide content. I will be shooting for over 200 post this. Ambitious yes., but I think you’ll all get a lot out of it. A few years ago Ted Hope had Hope for Film blog. I got so much out of it and learned a lot. I want to do the same thing with this blog for you.

Production Company: This is the year I officially start my production company. That means making it a legal entity. People will go around claiming they have a production company yet it is not a legal company; which means they do not really have a production company. Filmmaking is a business as well as an art form. When I think about projects I am thinking in two art forms: the art of telling a story visually and the art of business. It is important that you think this way. It helps give you realistic picture of what you can do when making your film.

Film Projects: Right now I have two film project: one is a short about a writer that is having an existential crisis who talks to the ghost of Jack Kerouac and my film dealing with sexual violence in the form of sex trafficking and combat veterans issues. I took a long break from this project. I am now coming back to it. I have to finish researching it and then write. I will have a first draft in 4 months. After rewrites, I will then package the film and start looking for investors. I want to start shooting this film at around the end of this year. Now for the short, the goal is to shoot it in May. This gives us enough time to raise capital to shoot it, do perproduction and then shoot it. I will also be playing Jack Kerouac. I have already started to grow my hair out for the role and reading up on Jack. We will be submitting this film to Sundance, SXSW, TriBecca and TIFF. We have that kind of confidence in this film to submit it into those film festivals. We have a great screenplay and talented people working on it. One of them is Ken Anthony who will be a producer.

Advocacy: Another thing I will be doing is advocacy work. One of the reasons I am a filmmaker is that it allows me to talk about issues I care about. One of those issues is sexual violence. Now on 2011 I started on the feature, and I got very much side tracked, which I will be going into in the near future, and now I am back to working on it. Now the issue has evolved to sex trafficking which is rape for profit and I get to discuss it. Same goes for combat veterans issues. We have been at war and it has taken its toll on many who fought in it. I already do veterans mental health advocacy work here in Tampa, and this film helps me further that discussion to even a larger crowd.

Film Society: Tampa needs a true film society. We have organizations that have film society in there name, yet they do not act like a real film society. They are more like AV clubs with a membership fee, they are not cultural institutions which film societies are suppose to be: They do not have programs that teach media literacy. They do not serve the public interest but only their own. Which is fine, but they are not true film societies. This will be a 501 c3 non-profit organization. It will bring cinema appreciation to the people of the Bay Area. We will start programs that teach media literacy to children in schools. We will celebrate cinema as a community. It will showcase filmmakers like Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Ford Coppola, Sergio Leone, Scorsese, Allen and many more. It will have programs for filmmakers. It will celebrate independent cinema.

Become the Master of my Craft: I am going to learn and become an expert in filmmaking.This is something I think we all should do. I have numerous books on filmmaking at every level. Thirtbooks.com is your friend. I have gotten many books on filmmaking from thriftbooks and and have been diving into them. I want to know as much as I possible can for a few reasons: One to avert disaster, if you know how do something the right way you will be likely to make costly mistakes. Another reason is it helps you be a better leader. If you have knowledge in a certain, you can speak and lead with authority. You can help other and give guidance. Most of all be helpful to others, and it is also about being a professional. Professionals know their craft and know it well. And of course it betters my chances of success.

I am looking for an editor. I think it would benefit me greatly.

And soon I am going to explain the events of February 2013 that had much to do with my film.

One of the things I am going to start doing here, is curate good reading material for you guys. There is so ,much information out there that it can be hard to filter through the noise. One website you should be going to is Brainpickings.org. It is one of the smartest websites on the web, and is especially great for those who are in the creative fields and for those who look for a better and a better way of living. It is such a good site that the Library of Congress archives Brainpickings’ post due to their cultural relevance.

As far as the film development goes I finished up the book Walking Prey by Holly Austin Smith and am about to finish up The Untold War by Nancy Sherman. I also started reading a PDF by Shared Hope International on mirror sex trafficking. My goal is to get through that and finish 3 other books. One of the good things about my research is that now that I am working with the Veteran’s Mental Health Advocacy Council, all these books help me be a much better advocate because I am becoming much more knowledgeable on PTSD and Moral Injury.

I also have to find some time to paint; which is a time management issue. Which we all have.